It was an impressive performance by Moussa Diaby in a Les Bleus shirt: In the 8-0 victory for France against Kazakhstan, the Leverkusen player not only helped ensure qualification for the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar but also played a significant role on the pitch: Just one minute after coming off the bench, the 22-year-old appeared to have scored his first goal for the Equipe Tricolore but it was ruled out due to Kylian Mbappe being offside (73'). Shortly after that, he fed the ball through to the same superstar from Paris Saint-Germain for his fourth goal and the final strike in the 8-0 scoreline (87').
The next international for the French side is on Tuesday night, 16 November (kick-off: 20.45 CET) against Bayer 04 teammate Lukas Hradecky and his Finnish compatriots. However, the match is not crucial for the group leaders – Diaby and Co. are certain to finish top.
Lukas Hradecky with Finland secured an important 3-1 win against Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday. In spite of being a man down after 37 minutes, the Eagle Owls, with an in-form Leverkusen goalkeeper, produced an impressive performance and moved up to second place in Group D with the win.
Finland need to get a result against France and Diaby on Tuesday to qualify for the World Cup and protect their place in the table against Ukraine. They play Bosnia-Herzegovina at the same time.
Edmond Tapsoba was in action with Burkina Faso on Friday. The game against Niger ended in a 1-1 draw. That means Tapsoba and Co. are second in Group A in the Africa World Cup qualifiers. The 22-year-old played the full 90 minutes. On Tuesday, 16 November (kick-off: 17.00 CET), Burkina Faso play the current group leaders Algeria.
Odilon Kossounou featured for the Ivory Coast on Saturday night. The 20-year-old also went the full distance and was able to celebrate a 3-0 win against Mozambique with his teammates. That puts the Ivory Coast top of Group D with 13 out of a possible 15 points from five games. The next match on Tuesday (kick-off: 20.00 CET) is against Cameroon who are currently in second place on 12 points.
Jonathan Tah (World Cup qualifier)
14.11, 18.00 CET, Armenia vs Germany, Yerevan
Lukas Hradecky (World Cup qualifier)
16.11, 20.45 CET, Finland vs France, Helsinki
Moussa Diaby (World Cup qualifier)
16.11, 20.45 CET, Finland vs France, Helsinki
Jeremie Frimpong (U21 Euro qualifier)
15.11, 14.00 CET, Gibraltar U21 vs Netherlands U21, Gibraltar
Amine Adli (U21 Euro qualifier)
16.11, 18.30 CET, Macedonia U21 vs France U21, Skopje
Exequiel Palacios (World Cup qualifier)
17.11, 00.30 CET, Argentina vs Brazil, San Juan
Piero Hincapie (World Cup qualifiers)
17.11., 01.15 CET, Chile vs Ecuador, Santiago de Chile
Edmond Tapsoba (World Cup qualifier)
16.11, 17.00 CET, Algeria vs Burkina Faso, Blida
Odilon Kossounou (World Cup qualifier)
16.11, 20.00 CET, Cameroon vs Ivory Coast, Yaoundé
Emrehan Gedikli (U19 Euro qualifier)
16.11, 14.00 CET, Greece U19 vs Germany U19, Nafpaktos
Iker Bravo (U19 Euro qualifier)
16.11, 18.00 CET, Belgium U19 vs Spain U19, Bissen
Zidan Sertdemir (U19 friendly)
16.11, 11.00 CET, Portugal U19 vs Denmark U19, Capital do Movel
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Welcome to Leverkusen, Carles Martínez Novell. Bayer 04 have appointed the 42-year-old Spaniard as the new head coach on a contract to 2028. Martínez most recently worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. He previously spent four years at Barcelona's legendary academy La Masia in his home city. Bayer04.de introduces Martínez in more detail.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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